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Some potentially bad news from the Red Sox clubhouse this morning, with left-hander Rich Hill, who has been such a stalwart since making a rapid recovery from Tommy John surgery, going on the disabled list so he can have Dr. James Andrews examine his tight left elbow elbow in Florida tomorrow.

Hill, who had very little to say this morning because he wants to consult Andrews first, is 1-0 with a 2.63 ERA in 17 appearances this season. He last pitched on Friday against the Nationals, throwing 16 pitches in a scoreless inning.

"Rich Hill had a little tightness in his elbow and, because of the situation that he's dealing with in the first year of his rehabilitation, we're going to have him go back to Dr. Andrews, the doctor who performed the operation, to get his opinion on why he has that tightness," said manager Bobby Valentine. "He just doesn't feel good throwing his curveball. Hopefully it will come back as an SOP that this is the way things happen as you recover from Tommy John."

Hill's absence opened a spot for reliever Mark Melancon, who was activated. Melancon got rocked in his first two outings of the season in Detroit and was almost immediately shipped to Triple A Pawtucket to sort things out. To his credit, he did everything asked of him, posting a 0.83 ERA in 21 appearances, striking out 27 in 21.2 innings while walking just three.

"After five or six times of doing it, you realize it doesn't help to go down there and get pissed off," said Melancon, who went up and down with the Yankees. "It's tough to go down there after you've had a couple of bad outings. You have to make the best of it, and that's what I was trying to do."